Tags

The 5/8λ ground plane is regarded by hams widely as a superb antenna for DX, and since the main reason for modern ham radio is DX, it is an antenna of interest.

The idea behind the 5/8λ ground plane popularity is that claim that it has higher gain at low angles than a simple 1/4λ ground plane.

The 5/8λ ground plane is not resonant, and the feed point impedance is hardly suited to direct coax feed.

The chart above is for a 5/8λ ground plane elevated to 5m height above average ground (0.005,13). The feed point impedance in this case at 5/8λ radiator height (14.2MHz) is about 110-j485Ω. Continue reading Matching a 5/8λ ground plane

Walt Maxwell (W2DU) described a simple common mode choke or 1:1 current balun using ferrite sleeves slipped over a coaxial cable.

Fig 1:

Maxwell gives the choking impedance of two of his recommended chokes in Fig 21-3 from (Maxwell 2001). He does not give any detail of how he arrived at the curves, and in correspondence declined to give any detail.

This article focusses on a linear design for HF using 50 x FB-73-2401 (2673002402) ferrite sleeves.

The QW vertical is modelled using 2mm dia copper wire for vertical and radials, the radials are elevated 0.5m over ‘average ground’ (0.005,13).

Bear in mind that these are models that are based on some assumptions like ground parameters for example, and results may be different for other scenarios. Likewise, the results at 20m cannot simply be extrapolated to other bands, and practical modes of propagation utilised vary from band to band.

Key differences

Polarisation

Polarisation is a significant difference. Vertical ground waves are attenuated more slowly than horizontal waves, though ground wave propagation is not so commonly exploited on 20m due to its very short range. Because vertical ground waves are attenuated more slowly, a vertical polarised receiving antenna is likely to capture more ‘local’ noise that a horizontal one, but in SOTA context, local noise is not such an issue on mountain tops.

The QW vertical is vertical polarisation.

The STL is vertical polarisation.

The Inverted V dipole is horizontally polarised broadside to the dipole, and tends to vertical polarisation off the ends.

Radiation pattern

Radiation pattern is a 3 dimensional characteristic, often selectively plotted in two dimensions in the most favorable plane… which is fair enough but the reader needs to keep in mind the bigger three dimensional characteristic as it applies to their own application.

The radiation patterns of the antennas are quite different, the vertical is omnidirectional in azimuth whereas the others are not. So, it is challenging to produce a single general figure of merit comparing all antennas.

Hams embrace the UHF series connectors like no one else, including for its use on test equipment where its performance is lacking.

This is the likely reason why it is so hard to find low VSWR 50Ω terminations with UHF series plug. It is rare to find something with VSWR quoted in specifications, and nigh on impossible to find one at a reasonably low price.

On the other hand, SMA terminations start at about $2 each (posted), and it is not too hard to find ones specified with VSWR<1.2 to several GHz.

Above is a low cost, low quality solution. It is a SMA termination selected from a bunch using a high accuracy DMM (selected, R is 49.86Ω) and a SMA(F)-UHF(M) adapter, total cost $7 (posted) (but you might be advised to buy 5 loads to select the best one). Despite the specification, they are probably only good to 100MHz, and can be unreliable. Continue reading A check load for antenna analysers with UHF series socket

This article presents NEC-4.2 derived radiation patterns for both the loop and Inverted V Dipole used for the experiment using data published in the experiment writeup.

The effect of radiation pattern

The original experiment cited at the start compared WSPR signals received by a number of stations at moderate distance, and a key parameter becomes not so much the maximum gain of the two antennas compared but the gain at the relevant path elevations and the higher dipole will tend to have relatively better gain at lower elevation than the lower STL, so that further disadvantages the STL in the test scenario. This factor would be additional to the relative maximum gain of both antennas.

That is not to suggest that the test somehow set out to disadvantage the STL, both antennas were quite typical of SOTA deployments and the relative performance over moderate distance paths is highly relevant to that application.

Patterns from the models

The following patterns are from an NEC model that tries to capture realistic values for significant loss elements that affect the gain of each of the antennas.

The experiment above states The manufacturer of the loop gives a calculated efficiency of 39.754% at 14174 kHz. This is very similar to that claimed by Chameleon of their P-Loop2, so it will be used as a study example.

Experimental method

Taking the Chameleon P-Loop2 on 20m as the study example,

build a model in the AA5TB spreadsheet;

build an NEC-4.2 model in free space and reconcile it with AA5TB;

build an NEC-4.2 model in proximity of ground compare it with AA5TB;

build an NEC-4.2 model in proximity of ground and add realistic estimates for conductor and capacitor loss and compare it with AA5TB;

compare the NEC-4.2 model in proximity of ground with realistic losses to Chameleons published VSWR curve.

I have some IoT projects that would benefit from range afforded by a better antenna than the on-board antennas in most ESP8266 modules.

The Wemos ProMini has an on-board IPX socket for an external antenna so it is a candidate. Note that a 0R 0603 resistor needs to be removed and another or a wire link soldered in to route the RF to the IPX socket.